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InterviewsYou are in: South Yorkshire > Entertainment > Music > Interviews > Little Man Tate  Little Man Tate Little Man TateThe Sheffield four-piece spent 2005 gaining recognition from the indie-pop underground scene. In 2006 they've confirmed themselves as the latest success story out of South Yorkshire as they sign a deal with V2 Records... In 2005 Sheffield four-piece Little Man Tate set the foundations for a successful career in the ever-changing world that is the music industry. The signs were good, their songs are catchy, they're all very good friends, down to earth and caught the eye of the industry within months of forming the band. They took their sound further afield via the NME Club Tour, following in the footsteps of local lads Milburn and Bromheads Jacket performing around the country in December, 2005. Since the interview the band were tipped for big things by Rolling Stone magazine and have been credited by Radio 1's Zane Lowe and his listeners as the first winners of Fresh Meat in early 2006. All this is happened before the release of their debut single, The Agent, towards the end of February, 2006. However the tracks available for download on their website did encounter over 6000 visitors within a space of two weeks in December! In March 2006 the Sheffield lads were snapped up by V2 Records, and signed a deal with the label, registering another success story for a South Yorkshire band.  Ben loving the intimate surroundings Little Man Tate are Maz, guitarist, Dan the drummer, Ben the bassist and vocalist / guitarist Jon. So where does the name come from?Jon - It's kind of a weird story, but do you remember the film Little Man Tate? (Jodie Foster's directorial debut. Plot? A child prodigy seeks social acceptance). It's about this little boy who's really clever, and we're not little and we're not clever, so it's the irony [laughs]. We were just thinkin', 'what can we call ourselves? Well that sounds good, we'll just go with the film'. We didn't want to have a name like 'The... Something'. Ben - We were all writing names down and we'd come back and two of us would say 'that name's brilliant', and the other two would say, 'well that's not that good'. So when we came up with LMT we all thought it fitted. He's [points to Dan] still not sure! So what would you like the band to be called Dan?[everyone laughs] Jon - He'd call it 'Dan Fields, the Little Man Tate' [laughs]... Weekend Millionaires, that's his favourite! Maz - He's [Dan] gonna learn how to play the guitar and write a song called Weekend Millionaires!
Ben - He wants to learn how to play the drums first, you can't box above your weight! So how long have you known each other?Jon - Well we [points to Maz and Ben] all played football together and we met Dan through drinking in various pubs and knew him through mates of mates kinda thing. Are you all from the same area of Sheffield then?No we're from Greystones, Aston and Deepcar. So when did you put this band together then?Jon - About five or six months ago. Me and Maz have played in bands and jammed since we were 14/15, Ben got involved when we were 18/19 and now we're 23. We've been going as us four for six months as Little Man Tate. Ben - When we first sort of started we didn't gig or anything, we as a four-piece just wrote songs and stopped in a practice room three or four times a week for four or five hours everytime, just practicing and getting tight, just locked oursends away. Jon - We weren't intending it to go anywhere, all we wanted to do is have good fun in a band that's enjoying playing music. Although we rehearsed a fair bit we didn't put so much emphasis on being so tight at first. Once we got the songs we built a six song set to start with and added a couple of songs. People said we were good but we needed to tighten up. The only reason we practiced so long is because we were having so much fun!  Dan the drummer subject to some filming Ben - It's the only reason we're doing it, to enjoy our sends and have fun. We're all mates - playing in a a band together is just like us going out and having a laugh together so we love doing what we do, and if anybody likes us then it's a bonus! Maz - You're in a band to play gigs and it's as simple as that, it's the top and bottom of it. We're so glad we're in this position where we're playing gigs to people who aren't just our mates. We told our mates they can get tickets for our gigs but at The Grapes we sold out! Jon - One of my mates rang saying he was back in Sheffield and asked if we could sort him out a ticket and I ended up paying double for a ticket on the internet for a mate to go to our own gig! We want to do a Sheffield gig at least once a month, well that's the idea. Maz - We didn't know, but we got a mention in the Guardian... a guy was searching the internet for downloads and came across our name, downloaded our stuff and liked what he heard - it was a feature about downloads on the internet so we got a little mention there. So where does your material come from?Well we can't write songs about things we don't know about - we write about women, things we've done, people we've met and things we've read. They're all kind of true stories which is a worrying thing [laughs]. So what do you guys think of the spotlight currently on the Sheffield scene?Ben - It's really, really good. Before you would have had to travel to London and get a gig in Camden on a Thursday night, or the Garage in Islington or somewhere like that and A&R might come down to see ya. Jon - Now there's a chance that some Sheffield school or college band could be playing a gig and could be lucky enough for somebody in the industry to see 'em, now that's the difference and obviously that's only good for us and other local bands. In pictures:Help playing audio/video Maz - We're the same as the fans, we talk to them before gigs, we meet up with them in pubs and that's the way it should be. we're not four poseurs on stage saying 'look at us', well one of us is [laughs looking at Jon], but we're just four lads, there shouldn't be a barrier between the band and the audience and that's why things like MySpace and Raw Talent are so good. Raw Talent is great, it's so healthy for local bands at the moment 'cause we've had to put up with things like X Factor and Fame Academy over the years, it made you think, when are bands gonna be like proper bands? Now it seems to me like more kids are starting to go and see proper bands. Ben - Downloads are great - if you really want to hear a band you like you don't have to go out and find a single, you can search the internet and download what you want, and now it counts towards the charts too. People complain about the internet, my mother for one! But the internet has done so much for bands. last updated: 05/06/2008 at 16:56 Have Your SayHave you seen LMT in action? Tell us what you like or dislike about the band, their style, lyrics and their music... Paul Nicky Dunford Alan Frank SandwichBacon Emma Braund dan smiler John Sharon Skegness LMT fan club joanne Tav Jim foxy kate louise foxy sammy Phil Condon Gaz LMT Wirral Fans Tommy Tassel Rachey_owl Hazel Somerville kevin wilder cossack crusader mark and steve Marc From Deepcar Emma Chez & Damo Sam Sung Bish Will Gem Jon Howdle Q Lucy Kay Smith Al tom Ash Haystead easy-now Jonny Rudge You are in: South Yorkshire > Entertainment > Music > Interviews > Little Man Tate   External Links
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